When she arrived at the cabins, there were no vehicles parked in front of any of the buildings. She pulled into the short driveway and turned off the engine. Then she made her way up to the porch. She unlocked the door and walked inside. It was very cold in the living room, which wasn't unusual since the property manager turned off the heat in between rentals.
Everything looked the same as when she'd left it. She saw a few drawers pulled out in the kitchen and some pillows knocked off the couch, but that was probably from when the police had gone through the place.
She walked over to the sofa and picked up two pillows and put them back. That's when she heard a noise.
Her heart began to pound. She walked down the hall. The bedroom door was closed, but there was light coming from beneath the door.
Someone was in the bedroom.
Her breath came short and fast.
Should she leave? Go back and get her purse and then call 911 from the car?
She was still debating when a scream rang through the air filled with pain and fear and a tone of familiarity.
She opened the bedroom door. A woman was sprawled on her side across the bed, her blonde hair falling over her face as she writhed in pain, her hand pressing against her abdomen. She'd taken off her jeans and panties, a long black sweater falling to her hips. And that's when Hannah saw the blood on her thighs. The woman turned her head.
Kelly!
Shock ran through her, even though she'd known it was Kelly from the second she'd opened the door. But meeting her sister's gaze…it was familiar and different at the same time.
Kelly was older now, but it wasn't her age that bothered Hannah the most; it was the bruises on her face and the muscles in her face contorted with pain.
"Hannah," Kelly gasped. "Thank God! The baby is coming. I'm bleeding. I don't know what to do. It's too early."
She put every question out of her head and immediately went into nurse mode. "It's going to be okay," she said, moving to the bed.
"I'm scared."
"I'm sure you are."
"You must hate me."
"Right now, I just want to help you. I'm a nurse, Kelly."
"I know. I've been following you online."
That comment shocked her, but she needed to focus on the immediate crisis. "Let's see what's going on with the baby. Can you roll onto your back?"
Kelly gasped and groaned as she shifted onto her back.
Hannah did a quick check, her anxiety tripling when she realized the baby was breech. This wasn't going to be an easy birth, but there was no way she could get Kelly to the hospital now, which meant she had to deliver the baby. She hadn't done that in several years, and only once had she dealt with a breech birth. But she could do it. She would have to do it unless she could get the ambulance out here before the baby came, but that appeared doubtful. Kelly was already fully dilated.
"What's wrong? Something's wrong," Kelly said, fear in her eyes.
She met her sister's panicked gaze. "The baby is turned the wrong way. It's coming feet first, Kelly." She put as much calm into her voice as she could. "I'd like to try to turn her and see if we can get her into the right position."
"Okay," Kelly said.
"But first I'm going to grab my phone and call 911."
Kelly grabbed her arm. "You can't call 911, Hannah. The police will know where I am."
"I know you're in trouble, Kelly. I also know that Russ Miller is dead. But the police are already looking for you. I have friends in the department here. You can trust them. If you killed Russ in self-defense, they'll help you."
"I didn't kill Russ," she said, shock in her gaze. "You think I killed Russ?"
"The police thought he was hurting you, and you killed him trying to protect yourself."
"No, Hannah. It was Tom Washburn. He's a cop. He got obsessed with me after I had drinks with him one night. But I was never dating him. I never slept with him. I was in love with Russ. When I told Tom I was pregnant, he got crazy. He kept stalking me and harassing Russ. He even started thinking the baby was his. He's freaking insane. He's monitoring the police radios now. If we call for help, he'll know."
"That doesn't really make sense," she began.
"Trust me. He will find us, and that can't happen."
She didn't know what to make of Kelly's story, but she couldn't discount what her sister was saying. "I still think we can talk to the Whisper Lake Police. Tom doesn't work for them, right?"
"He has friends everywhere. I tried to get help from a cop in Colorado Springs, but he told Tom I was trying to make trouble for him. So, Russ and I had no choice but to run. Somehow, Tom found us, and he killed Russ. Now he's trying to get to me. He caught up to me earlier today. I rammed his car with mine, and I managed to get away. I didn't know where to go so I came back here."
"I didn't see your car."
"I hid it in the woods. By the time I got to the house, I was bleeding. I guess when I rammed his car, the impact triggered labor." Kelly let out another scream of pain. "Oh, God! The baby wants to come. How am I going to do this?"
"You're going to be fine, and so is your daughter." She pushed up the sleeves of her sweater. "I refuse to allow for any other outcome. You used to boss me around. Now it's my turn. You're going to do exactly what I say."
"I will. I'm sorry, Hannah. I'm sorry for everything. But I had to leave Brett with you. I had to make sure he was safe. I waited for you to come. I made sure you were there for him before I left."
"You should have stayed and talked to me."
"I was afraid."
"There will be time for apologies and explanations later. Right now, we need to get your daughter into the world. And first, we need to get her turned around." She looked at her sister. "This is going to hurt, Kelly. But we have to do it."
"Okay." Kelly breathed in and out. "If I don't make it, you'll take care of Brett and this baby, right?"
"You're going to make it. I'm going to take care of them and you. We are going to be a family again."
"I want that. I want to start over," Kelly said, a desperate plea in her eyes.
"We'll start now," she promised.
Jake had been avoiding his father for too long, but that ended today.
He arrived at the medical center just after three o'clock. He'd been debating this trip ever since he'd gotten up in the morning. He'd thought about it while taking a dozen tourists on an early-morning cross-country ski trip. And it had consumed his mind during a holiday lunch with his employees. Now, he had the afternoon free and the opportunity to do something to change Hannah's mind about having a relationship with him.
The past few days together, especially last night, had shown him how much he needed and wanted Hannah in his life. He'd lost her before, but he wasn't going to lose her again. She needed to trust him, and he could think of only one way to make that happen. He had to deal with his family issues.
He headed into the building and took the elevator to the fifth floor, to the offices of the chief of staff, Davis McKenna. His dad's assistant was sitting at a desk outside his father's office. She gave him a surprised look. He'd known Judy for most of his life, and certainly she was aware of the tension between him and his father.
"Hello, Judy."
"Jake," she said, a speculative gleam in her eyes. "How are you?"
"I'm doing well. Is my father available?"
"I'm sure he is for you. Go on in. He's just doing some paperwork."
He walked past Judy, then paused, needing one last double check. "He's alone, right?"
She nodded. "Yes, why?"
"Doesn't matter." He put his hand on the doorknob, flashing back to another door twelve years earlier. He should have stopped when he heard the sound of laughter. Or, at the very least, he should have knocked. But he hadn't. And his life had turned upside down.
Today, he would turn it right side up.
He opened the door and entered his dad's office, which was spacious and well-decorated, befitting
the head of the hospital. His father sat behind a large desk, a computer to his left, a stack of charts to his right. Behind him was a window with a fantastic view of the mountains. The walls on either side of the room were filled with medical books, and a couch and two chairs in a seating area completed the space.
His father stood up, giving him a wary look.
He closed the door behind him before moving farther into the room.
His father came around the front of his desk, his arms crossed in front of him. His dad seemed to take that hostile but defensive posture every time they crossed paths.
"Why are you here, Jake?"
"We need to talk."
"About what?"
"You know what."
At his pointed words, his dad frowned. "Jake, please, that was a long time ago. Why do we need to discuss anything?"
"Because we do. I need to talk, and you need to listen."
His father stared back at him. "All right. Maybe it is time to get all this out in the open."
"It's past time. Twelve years ago, you made me promise to keep a secret. You made a compelling argument about protecting my mother and my brother," he said bitterly. "But you shouldn't have asked me to do that. You shouldn't have put that burden on me."
His father paled, his dark gaze narrowing in anger and guilt. "You're right, Jake."
He'd been prepared for a counterattack, not for an agreement. "Yes, I am right," he said forcefully.
"What I did was wrong. And it put a wedge between us."
"A wedge? That's an incredible understatement. You destroyed our relationship. You put me in the middle of a situation I never should have been in."
"I didn't know you were going to walk in on Louise and me."
He hated hearing that woman's name on his father's lips. Louise had been one of his father's nurses. She'd left town a few weeks after he'd interrupted their afternoon office affair, and his dad had assured him that it was a one-time thing, that it was a mistake, and it was over. As far as he knew, Louise had never come back, but whether or not his father had made the same mistake with someone else was something he didn't want to know.
"You can't tell your mother now," his father continued. "It would kill her, and what would be the point? I have been faithful to her ever since that day. Seeing the pain in your eyes, hearing the accusation in your voice, I knew I'd made a horrible mistake. And all my excuses for doing what I did were worth nothing. It didn't matter that your mom had been obsessed with Paul's care and couldn't have a conversation with me that didn't require my medical knowledge. It didn't matter that I felt helpless because I couldn't cure my youngest son."
"You can't blame Paul's illness for your infidelity."
"I know. I realized that after I'd crossed a line I never should have crossed. I made a vow then to be a better husband. Your mother and I worked on our marriage. We rebuilt it. We came back together, and we became stronger than we were. You just weren't around to see that part."
"I couldn't be around. I didn't want to look at you. I didn't want to watch you deceive my mother."
"It wasn't like that, Jake," his father said, shaking his head. "I've always loved your mother. I just made some horrible decisions. The cheating was bad enough but bringing you in on it was even worse."
"Making that promise to you drove me to make my own mistake. That night I bailed on Hannah. I abandoned her on the night of the prom. I got drunk and had sex with another girl and everyone knew. I hurt and humiliated Hannah because I was so caught up in a world of pain and I couldn't tell anyone."
"She told me that you'd cheated on her," his father said slowly. "But I didn't know it was that same night."
"I was out of my mind, and I wanted to escape. That decision ended Hannah and me."
"Maybe she would have forgiven you if you'd stuck around."
"If I'd stayed, I would have told her your secret, because I told her everything. I couldn't have kept it from her. I had to leave."
"But now you want to tell her," his father said heavily. "You want to get back together, isn't that right?"
"Yes," he admitted. "Hannah knows I've been holding something back all this time. And she can't trust me if I don't open up to her. I'm not going to tell Mom; I'm just going to tell Hannah. But I won't ask her to keep it a secret. I don't know if she'll tell Mom or if she'll want to protect you. I suspect she'll probably choose the latter, because you're her mentor, and she has tremendous respect and loyalty for you."
"I doubt that will continue after she hears what you have to say."
"Maybe not, but I've kept your secret long enough. If you've truly rebuilt your marriage with Mom, then you should tell her. And you should tell Paul."
"It would destroy them."
"I guess it's always been easier just to destroy me."
His father sucked in a quick breath as the knife went deep. "It has never been easy. You probably don't believe that, but it's true. I am sorry, Jake."
"Are you? I've never seen any evidence of that."
"I didn't know how to fix it. You were gone before I could figure that out, and you stayed away for a long time. I kept thinking one day we'd talk it out, but the days and the years kept passing."
"Wasn't it easier for you that I was gone? The only person who knew your dirty little secret wasn't around to blow your life up."
"It wasn't easy. I missed my son. And your mother missed you even more. She'd cry when you didn't come home for the holidays. That's when we started opening up our Christmas dinners to extended family and friends. It helped her get through the day without you. When you came back, she was unbelievably happy, but she still hates that you and I don't get along."
"And does she ask you why?"
"She's asked me many times, and I always tell her the same thing—that I let you down, I wasn't there for you, and you can't forgive me."
"You've never thought about telling her the truth?"
"I've thought about it a thousand times, but I'm afraid I'll lose her if I do. I love her, Jake. I always have. What we went through with Paul tested us in ways you don't understand, because you weren't a parent. You saw it through the eyes of a sibling. It was different for you than for us. And I'm sad to say that I failed the test. But I did try to do better after that. I've tried to make your mom and Paul as happy as I can. And I'd like the opportunity to make things up to you."
It hurt to know that his dad was willing to put everyone else in the family over him, but at least he was being honest for the first time in a long time. And he could be honest, too.
"I've never wanted to tell Mom or Paul," he admitted. "I hated that you asked me to keep the secret, but the real reason I kept it was because they were fragile, especially right when it happened. I thought about coming clean later, but everyone had moved on, and you and Mom seemed happy enough. I thought Hannah was gone forever, but that's changed. I have a second chance with her, and I have to take it. I have to, Dad. She's the one. She's always been the one."
"And she can forgive you for cheating on her?"
"I'm very aware of the irony," he admitted.
"What if I asked you for a second chance?"
"It's not the same."
"It's not, but it is. It's about forgiveness. It's about accepting that people can be weak. They can make mistakes, but that's not their entire story."
His dad made a good point. "You're right. A mistake is not the whole story. But I've never thought you wanted my forgiveness, only my silence."
"I've wanted both."
"Well, I'm glad you can admit that." Jake paused as his phone began to buzz. He pulled it out of his pocket, his body tensing as he saw a stream of texts coming in from Hannah. "Damn," he muttered. Her texts were all short and panicked.
With Kelly at cabin. She's in labor with complications. Call Adam and get an ambulance up here. Tell him Kelly is being stalked by a cop—Tom Washburn. She didn't kill Russ; Tom did. I'm trying to deliver her baby, so I can't talk, and she doesn't want me
to call 911 to dispatch ambulance to this address. She thinks Washburn will use it to get to her first. He can't know where we are.
His mind raced with questions, but he quickly texted her back: Done. On my way.
"What's wrong?" his father asked.
"I have to go. Hannah is with her sister at their cabin in Wicker Bay. She's in trouble. I don't know what's going on. But she needs an ambulance at her cabin, and she can't call 911."
"Why not?"
"I don't know, but she can't."
"All right, Jake, take it easy. I know where the cabin is. I'll arrange for the ambulance."
"You can't mention Kelly's name or Hannah's, for that matter. And, again, I don't know why. It just seems to be very important."
"I'll take care of it, Jake."
"Thank you." While his dad was doing that, he punched in Adam's number, as he headed toward the office door. Thankfully, Adam answered.
"Kelly is back at Hannah's cabin," he told Adam, as he jogged toward the elevator. "She's in labor and in trouble. Hannah is with her. She said that Kelly is being stalked by a cop."
Adam swore. "Who is it?"
"His name is Tom Washburn. Kelly seems to think this cop can track anything broadcast through the police or 911. My father is sending an ambulance from the hospital. I'm on my way. What about you? Can you meet us?"
"Yes, but I'm in Black Falls, Jake. I'm probably an hour away. I'll call Brodie and get him up there as soon as possible."
"Great. I'll be there in thirty minutes, twenty if I can," he promised.
"Be careful, Jake."
"I'm not worried about myself." As he ended his call, he was shocked to see his dad keeping pace with him. "I thought you were getting the ambulance."
Just One Kiss: A heartwarming Christmas romance (Whisper Lake Book 4) Page 21